She nibbled on her lower lip for a moment. It was getting a little easier to talk about what she'd been up to back home. But there was still a lot of training she needed to break, so she always hesitated. It was possible she always would.

"Well," she said slowly, "I mean, aside from living among people who probably would have panicked if they knew what I really was...I mean, I had more responsibilities back home than just being apprenticed to the court translator. I had certain...other duties."

Stop it, she told herself. Stop talking in circles. There was no point to it.

"I was really good at this one thing. I could...find things. I could find something someone had that someone else wanted. And I could take that thing."